Good news
by AllyBallyBee
Summary: Scully dreams of Melissa.


Disclaimer: The X-Files was created and therefore is owned by Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen Productions and Fox Broadcasting. I am using these characters without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: Scully dreams of Melissa.

Title: Good news

Author: AllyBallyBee

Classification: PG

Keywords: Friendship, implied MSR

Spoilers: Up to Season 3 and then Millennium in Season 7

For Kaylee for always having the right words. Thank-you.

***

"What's the good of news if you haven't a sister to share it" Jenny De Vries

***

"_Missy...MISSY!"_

_Dana ran from the front door, sprinting up the stairs, bounding towards her bedroom. She flung open the door, not caring whether it banged against the wall although she knew it would garner her a telling off from her mother. She quickly scanned the room, hoping to find Melissa. When she didn't, she felt marginally deflated although little could remove her glow._

"_Mom...MOM!"_

"_Dana, would you please stop shouting and come down here??", her mother said with a mixture of amusement at her daughter's excitement and feigned annoyance at the manner in which she was attempting to get other's attention._

_Dana dropped her books onto the floor, not worrying when she saw several of the papers from her folder fan out around the floor. She would fix them later; she had other things on her mind._

_As she ran down the stairs, Dana began to speak, "Mom, where's Missy? I need to tell her something. It's __really__ important!"_

"_She's sitting out on the back terrace. What's wrong? You look like the cat that got the milk." Maggie recognised the look of excitement in her daughter's eyes, she had seen it many times before. She even remembered what it felt like, although she knew that her youngest daughter was still at the age where she wouldn't understand that her mother had gone through these things as well._

"_I'm fine, really. I just need to see Missy" she quickly hugged her mother; already moving towards the back door._

_As she skipped towards the door (her movement mimicking the movement of her heart), she caught a glimpse of her big sister sitting on the swing chair by the back door. Although she wanted nothing more than to run to her side and divulge her news, she paused, watching her sister completely absorbed in whatever book had taken her attention. She marvelled at her beauty, something which she often chose to ignore but which she was reminded of everyday; wondered at the manner in which she could fold herself onto any chair like she wished to take as little space as possible and yet remain the centre of attention. Dana knew she had passed the age where jealousy of her sister had consumed a large piece of her existence but she knew, when she took the time to look at Melissa in these moments of solitude, that she would forever look up to her as an image of perfection. She no longer wished to __be __her (not since she had reached a level of comfort within her own skin), yet there was still a part of her that remained that would be happy to reach the level of serenity and peace that Melissa had achieved._

_She slowly opened the screen door, hoping to distract Melissa enough that she was drawn to the noise of the door but not enough that it startled her._

"_Missy?" she asked quietly._

_Melissa slowly looked up from her book, her eyes eventually finding the source of the distraction in the animated face of her younger sister. A smile graced her lips, the excitement radiating from her sister too strong to ignore._

"_What's up Danes?", she said placing her book by her side and patting the available space next to her, inviting her baby sister to join her._

_Dana jogged to her side, throwing herself onto the available space._

"_Ok, well, you know how Dave was talking about the summer ball the other day and I didn't really know what to say when he asked me who he should ask?"_

"_Yeh?"_

"_Weeell, he must have been thinking about asking me all along because he asked me today on lunch break!"_

"_Oh, Danes, that's brilliant. You wanted to go with him right?"_

"_Yeh! How could I not? He's one of my best friends, I just always thought he'd prefer to go with one of those cheerleaders...like Amber or whatever" she pulled a face, signifying her true feelings about that idea._

"_Well, I'm glad. You just need to find something to wear now, yeh?"_

"_Yup, I'd quite like to find something new to wear...actually.."_

"_I'll take you to the Mall, we'll find something together", Melissa said, interrupting._

"_Thanks, Missy", Dana looked into the eyes of her sister, seeking support, reassurance, or any of the other myriad of emotions that she hoped to find._

_All were there and she felt her heart soar. _

_Dana had always been close to her brothers, especially Charlie, almost being his equal in age. But there was something about Melissa that made her seek her approval, her love. She had always been there for Dana, always would be; she knew this. It was a sister thing; little explanation needed, just an inexplicable bond that would last until the day the world ended, or either of them died. _

_Dana knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon; they were meant to grow old together._

***

Scully sat bolt upright in bed, wondering what had woken her with such force. And then, she began to remember. And her stomach dropped to her feet. All at once, she struggled to breathe and she felt the urge to leap from her bed; hoping that the stability of her apartment floor would steady her breathing and stop her from having the urge to be sick.

As she stood, feet planted shoulder length apart like she had been taught, her stomach muscles began to constrict and the sob that she had been dreading erupted from her mouth. And although she would have wanted nothing more than to curl up on her bed, back in the comfort of her memories, she knew that the pain would be too much for that. She doubled over, grasping at the silky material of her pyjamas. Her heart began to hurt and the recognition of the pain brought more sobs from her chest.

It had been so long since she had felt...this.

Not that she didn't think about Melissa everyday of her life. There was always some moment, some event that made Scully want to pick up the phone and dial her sister's number. There were even times when she had the phone in her hand, finger over the first number, when she remembered that Melissa would never again be on the other end of the phone; at the other end of a table. And it took all of her strength to put the phone back in its holder and return to whatever she had been doing before her brain had forgotten that her sister had been dead for four years.

Scully moved her hand to her face, surprised to find that her cheeks were not wet from tears. She attempted to stand upright, to breathe in so that her lungs were completely inflated. As she slowly let the breath leave her lungs, she began to feel the emptiness that was gradually consuming her inner self. An emptiness that she had cultivated over the years that would often allow her to regain her composure before the world became too much.

Moving her shaking legs towards the bed frame, she lifted each one carefully until she was lying back on her mattress, her head securely in the position that it had been before she had been awoken by her dream. Pulling the covers up to her chest, she scanned the room, her eyes finding the picture that she kept of Melissa on her dresser. Even though she was unable to see it in the remaining darkness of the night, she remembered every inch of her sister's brightly lit face.

And she began to wonder why this, of all nights, had led her to thoughts of her sister; to a desire to have her close by. A desire so strong that it took Scully's breath away.

It was then that her lips conjured the feeling of his. How soft they had felt being pressed against her own. How his lips had made her ears shut out the noise of Dick Clark, bells and cheers of New Year celebrations.

She knew then why her subconscious had brought forth images of her sister; conjuring a long forgotten memory, of a time long gone past.

It had always been Melissa that she had sought when she had exciting news, when her dreams had come true, when she wished to talk to somebody who would understand because she had been there before and would have the right words to say.

And she wanted nothing more than to talk to Missy about Mulder; nothing more than to sit till the first rays of the day's light discussing the next move, the next stage.

God, how her heart ached. And on the day that should have been the beginning of a new year with her partner by her side, no longer out of reach.

***


End file.
